How the UK recycles millions of dirty old disposable coffee cups

Lily Cole's 'Impossible' network wants its users to help each other out

This article was taken from the July 2012 issue of Wired magazine. Be the first to read Wired's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content bysubscribing online. "The average Londoner knows just one neighbour," says model and actress Lily Cole. "I travel a lot and I'm always surprised by the strong sense of community in some countries. We've lost something fundamentally human and we don't even realise it." During a trip to the Thai-Burmese border in 2010, Cole came up with an idea: a social network built around giving. "Social media is popular because it feeds into our desire to be connected," she says. "I want to transport that into real life, with real value."

Cole's social network, Impossible, has been designed for users to meet and help each other. Users post requests (say, "I wish to have a haircut"), and anyone in their local network can offer to help. The emphasis is on giving, rather than bartering. "Giving triggers social cohesion," says Cole, 24. "It's also the basis for an economy not based on money. Impossible will facilitate that via social media."

Impossible is in beta and is still self-funded, and its advisers include Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales and economist Hazel Henderson. For Cambridge graduate Cole, this is an addition to a modelling and acting career (she's in Snow White and the Huntsman, in cinemas June 1). "Impossible is a utopian idea," she says, "but I do <span class="s2">believe it is possible."

This article was first published in the July 2012 issue of WIRED magazine